Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1887-12-15
AGAINST THE WORLD.
THE ANGLO-SAXON RACE AND ITS
GREAT ACHIEVEMENTS.
1t Has Contributed More Toward Accom-
plishing the Results of Modern Civili-
zation Than All the Other Races-Why
This Is True.

1t Has Contributed More Toward Accom-
plishing the Results of Modern Civili-
zation Than All the Other Races-Why
This Is True.
The Anglo-Saxon race with its co-opera-
tive Celtic branches, may be pardoned for
being little selfcomplacent and egotistical.
1t is younger in its career than any other Eu-
pean race, and during many centuries it
lacked the territorial advantages possessed by
its rivals and it still lacks their advantages
in population. Yet it has accomplished more
in the chief exploits that go to make up na-
tional greatness, and contributed more to the
achievements of modern civilization than all
the other races combined. 1t has given a uni
form language to more than 100, 1000, 900 of
people, language enriched by literature
which, upon the whole, from Chaucer to Her
bert Spencer, in science, philosophy, history,
law, poetry, romance and criticism, rivals, if
it does not surpass, the literature of all the
other modern nations of Continental Europe.
This declaration may cause an italian, q
Frenchman, German, or dweller upon the
Iberian peninsula to stand aghast; but we
know the literature of those people better
than they know Anglo-Saxon literature. 1t
has contributed nearly all the important in
ventions that add to the comfort and con-
venience of modern society. Obliterate the
effects of its mechanical and scientific de-
vices from the face of modern civilization,
and the world would seem TO fall into almost
medieval simplicity in a single day. Even
the art of printing, a Chinese art originally,
but credited TO continental Europe as its
almost solitary great contribution to the in
ventive arts that have influenced modern
civilization favorably, owes its chief utility
to the devices of Anglo-Saxons.
AGAINST THE WORLD.
Finally, the Anglo-Saxon countries count
their wealth in comparison with the COM
bined wealth of all other countries that are
intelligent enough to count statistically, and
if the balance be not in their favor the
estimate will be so nearly equal that it would
be hard to tell to which side the preponder-
ance inclines. In almost everything that
speaks of achievement save the musical and
fine arts, it is the Anglo-Saxon race against
the world, and in most practical things it is
the Anglo-Saxon race alone, and there is no
competitor. Why is this truel
If we trace the growth of Anglo-Saxon
civilization VIC find the answer to this ques-
tion. The race advances moro rapidly than
OIuer races, BECAUSE IL IudkSS use VI D6JlcI
agencies for promoting the interests of So
ciety than its rivals and cultivates more
stolid spirit of self dependence. From the
reign of the earlier English kings down to
the American revolution, and following
through all the earlier and later years of our
own republic, there has been persistent
and an almost intermittent contest in favor
of personal independence and the right to in
augurate, carry forward and control per-
sonal affairs without let or hindrance from
superior authority. The traits implied in
this contest have not found their most ade-
quate expression in England. The emanci-
patton of Englishmen, struggling to obtain
firm foothold among the continually crum-
bling debris of feudal institutions, has been q
slow process. But it has been continuous,
and in all Anglo-Saxon communities the in
dividual and society have long been the first
objects of consideration, the government
being held only as their dependent and SER
want. The former lead, ard the latter,
through its official representatives, whether
hereditary or chosen, is only expected to
follow and sustain.-William Nelson Black
in New York Sun.